Monthly Archives: July 2018

Post navigation

“Populist demagogues like He Who Must Not Be Named aren’t a new thing; see THE DEAD ZONE, published 37 years ago.” – Stephen King A harrowing tale of a man and his hospital bills… there’s some psychic stuff near the …Continue reading →

Oh do I have an emotionally loaded week for you. MUWAHAHAHAHAH. So this week’s analysis is long overdue: we’re going to cover Russell in Up (2009). Frankly, if Up doesn’t make you cry, there is something lacking inside …Continue reading →

One of the best things about action films: they allow lazy people like yours truly to sit on the sidelines and get all riled up without having to do anything. Is that a lazy statement? Yeah, but you know that …Continue reading →

Showtime’s Masters of Horror series has the distinction of being both an odd let down and a curiously effective program. On one hand, I was completely underwhelmed by quite a few of the episodes, such as Chocolate, Sick Girl, Family …Continue reading →

Gentle readers, have we been up to something of late! Some of you may know of my affiliation with House of Leaves Publishing as technical editor, working primarily with resumes, application form completion, personal statement writing, and cover letter writing, …Continue reading →

I want to start off by explaining that the reasons for my absence have been twofold: 1.) I’m currently dealing with a personal financial matter that is a neverending morass of stress and anxiety, and 2.) I didn’t really see any trailers that sparked my interest until recently. (Editor’s note: we love Talicia dearly, and we are firm believers that if you have something going on, you take care of you and your loved ones first. As we’re not monetized yet, this isn’t a paid gig, and I’m not going to demand output when all I can offer is a bag of Skittles. Plus, there are larger things in the world. Your problems matter because they are yours, whether it’s a sick dog or a broken-down car or a huge presentation at work. We’re a family here, and family backs each other up. We’ll still be here when you get back. There’s always a spot for you.)

Blockbuster season has never really been my bag. I like (some) the superhero movies just fine, but am in no way compelled to pay $10.50 (in my neighborhood) when I can just wait a few months and watch it on Netflix… although, even then, I tend to pass them up to watch something totally random I put in my queue. That leaves the endless string of idiotic comedies that seem to want to be screwball, but appear to be a Mad Libs-style script of dick jokes and beautiful people being clumsy so we’ll somehow be convinced that “they’re JUST. LIKE. US!” In short, I tend to skip the trailers and movies in the summer months.

That’s why I finally perked up when these came on my radar. Initially, I wanted to say something about the Spike Lee movie that’s based on an actual person and event. However, I don’t know if I’m prepared to wade into the inevitable weeds surrounding that one, and I think I’d get more out of reading the original book instead. So, I’m shifting gears and bringing to your attention a couple of movies that will deal with human frailty and resilience in completely different ways: Welcome to Marwen and Glass.

Like Spike Lee’s BlacKkKlansman, Welcome to Marwen also appears to be based on an actual person, who’s portrayed by Steve Carell. Having suffered a severe assault, Carrell’s character now creates miniatures as a way to tell his story and remember life before the assault stole his memories. Rather than the unsettling dioramas in Hereditary, Marwen’s miniatures help create a world you want to explore. You can view the trailer in the link provided above, as the trailer for Glass will be the featured video in this post.

As for Glass, even though I just spent half a paragraph bitching about superhero movies, I do rather like the Shyamalan take on the genre. Sure, maybe I’m alone there, and no doubt there’s something out there that plays on the same concepts (perhaps The Watchman, for example, though I never finished reading it to be able to say for sure). But I don’t come across too many superhero stories where the superpowers may or may not be real, or rather the characters’ perception of their condition translates it as a superpower. I also enjoyed Unbreakable and Split and want to see how these characters play out in this universe. And, yeah, I’m already speculating as to what the “twist” ending is going to be, but I’m game. Here’s hoping Mr. S has his groove back.

Okay, so I have a whole new perspective on my cat. A mouse got into my home unexpectedly this weekend. My cat – my sweet, seven-pound, adorable little love muffin who acts like a dog and demands snuggles from anyone who …Continue reading →

I don’t know about you, but I’m pretty on the fence with Aubrey Plaza. On one hand, she’s effective in her roles as a smartass that doesn’t care what you think. On the other hand, she’s a little too good …Continue reading →

True story: the first time I took the father of my kids to see Shrek (2001), while we were still dating, he laughed so hard at the exploding bird scene that I really thought I was going to have to …Continue reading →

So last week’s lack of posts was certainly unexpected. Long and short of it: I moved, and there were issues with getting my internet set up that were not anticipated. Between that and editing a book, I’m sort of beat. …Continue reading →